Machine for knitting thickened-wale structures



April 23-, 1929. w, sco 1,709,882

MACHINE FOR KNITTING THICKENED WALE STRUCTURES I Filed July'i, 1921 2 Sheets-SE6} l t I t L4 2- l7"! flew jag/5713044 April 23, 1929. w SCOTT 1,709,882

MACHINE FOR KNITTING THICKENED WALE STRUCTURES Filed July 1 2- Sheets-Sheet 2 it!) r0%7; EOZerZWSC Patented Apr. 23, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT W. SCOTT, F BABYLON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOB TO SCOTT AND WILLIAMS, INC, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR KNITTING THICKENED-WALE STRUCTURES.

Application. filed July 7, 1921.

This invention relates to machines for knitting fabrics having therein thickened Wale structures.

A principal object of the invention is to provide devices capable of attachment to and use in existing knitting machines such as hosiery knitting'machines of well known types, (for instances only, of the type illustrated in my Letters Patent No. 1,282,958, October 29, 1918, or of the machines upon which that patent is an improvement, in-

. cluding that shown in my Letters Patent No.

1,148,055 July 27, 1915) and adapted automatically to make in the stockings produced thickened-Wale structures of different kinds, and especially adapted to make the fabrics and practice the method disa closed in my copending application Serial No. 483,024 filed of even date herewith Patent No. 1,521,256, dated December 30, 1924.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a development of the cam ring of a knitting machine of one of the types referred to illustrating the relation of the means for forming the thickened-Wale structure to the usual knitting instrumentalities;

Figure 2 is a right side elevation of the main frame showing certain control devices hereinafter referred to;

Figure 3 is a plan above the bed plate of the machine, parts being removed;

Figure 4 is a detail section on line it-A of Fig.2;

Figure 5 is a detail elevation from the left-hand side of Fig. 3;

Figure 6 is a diagram plan, enlarged, showingthe relation of the needles to a cam employed for isolating certain of the needles;

Figure 7 is a similar view showing a different arrangement of needles;

Figure 8 is'an elevation comparing different kinds of needles used;

Figure 9 is an explanatory view typical of one species of the fabric; and

Figure 10 is a similar view of another speciesof the fabric.

Serial No. 483,037.

Referring now to Fig. 1, I prefer to form the thickened Wale structure by engaging the additional yarn t fed through a movable yarn guide t from a point stationary during the operation of making the thickened-wale structure and outside of the series of needles m The engagement of the yarn t with the needles, and the operation of the yarn guide t may be similar to that ex plained in my Patent No. 1,256,834. As in-' 4 (heated in Fig. 1, Iprefer to effect the selection of needles to engage the yarn t .by means hereinafter described. I

The cam ring 271 carries the usual stitch cams 360, 361, and is provided with some form of top-center cam 357, the leading stitch cam serving as usual to elevate the needles from the height of the ledge 40 at a, Fig. 1 to clear their latches, the needles being depressed somewhat by the cam 357 to take their knitting yarn w at the main yarn feed F, thence bein further de 'ressed by cam 360 to knit, and t ien being a vanced to ledge 40, in which position the loop formed at passage of the cam 360 is not cleared below the latches of the needles. Isolation of certain of the needles can now take place for the purpose of wrapping about these needles the yarn t. A preferred way of doing this is to move downward into the depression 41 from the ledge 40 all of' the needles except the selected and isolated needles left at the level of the ledge 40, which thus encounter the yarn t, and upon revolution of the needles in respect to the guide 27', form upon themselves a wrapping v of the yarn It. When the needles rise at al the yarn 25 passes below the needle latches, and the-wrapping is cast off when the needles bearing "it are depressed by the following stitch cam 360. This does not take place until the main yarn 10 has been taken into the hooks of the needles.

By'the above arrangements the wra ping of the additional yarn t engages the" abric only at the point of passage of the wrapping from the outside to the inside of the grou of needles to which it is applied, at whic points the yarnw overlays the wrapping of the yarn 2", and hence results in the ends of runs of the yarn t being engaged with the yarn w and passing about it from the back or rear faceof the fabric to the forward face,-and then back again. These points of engagement are in the sinker-Wale next outside of the group of needles allowed to receive the wrapping of yarn t. The runs of the yarn :5 lie wholly .on the rear or back face of the fabric, as will be clear from Figs. 9 and 10.

As explained in each of my said Patent No. 1,256,834 and my Patents Nos. 1,267,126 and 1,267,127, May 21, 1918 these thickened wale structures, of whatever nature, and especially when intended as a fashion seam extending down the back of the leg of the stocking, are improved in appearance by mtermittent presence of the additional yarn n engagement with the fabric; as explained in the said patents this effect may be secured by depressing all of the needles out of range of the em feed t in recurrent courses. ThlS resu ts in a diagonal or lengthwise float. of the yarn t extending from spot to spot in the fabric made by the engagement of the yarn t as explained above. \Vhen the fabric is slack or loose, as in the upper part of the leg of a stocking, the floats or runs of the thickening wale yarn (see for instance the runs Figs. 2 and 4, No. 1,256,834) are not extensible so far as the fabric of the base web. This leads to breakage either of the base web or of these floats.

The present mechanism is capable of making a thickened 'wale structure of intermittent width without floating the yarn t from wider spot towider spot, and may be arranged as desired to perform other vayarn t with the base web.

riations in the kind of engagement of the Referring now to Fig. 2, in machines of the type illustrated the driving and control mechanism may include a power shaft 30 through which the machine is driven, and a pattern or cam shaft 80 carrying pattern surfaces to determine the orderly operation of the parts. The driving devices may include a shaft 55 actuated from the drive shaft 30 by a pinion on said shaft and a gear rotating at a rate lessthan the rate of the shaft 30. The rotary element of the knitting head may rotate in unison with its shaft 30 as driven by one of the pulleys 47 the gear 65 rotating at a predetermined ratio with respect to the rate of the knitting head, for instance making one revolution to each four revolutions of the knitting head. The present invention includes means for selectmg variable groups of needles at different recurring revolutions of the knitting head (corresponding to courses of the base fabrie) and automatic means for selecting first one group and then another or others by means operated from the pattern shaft 80 and from a part rotating in relation to the rotations of the knitting head, preferably.

the. gear 65.

A simple form of these devices may com prise as shown a depressing cam 101, Figs. 1, 3, 5 and 6, mounted on a Hat of suitable slope at one end of a lever 420 pivoted for horizontal movement on a standard E, said lever ,having a depending portion 423 and being held by a tension spring 426 normally to rock upon the pivot E to withdraw screw 418 near the end of the lever 420 lim-' its its inward osition.

The depending end 423 of the lever 420 carries a follower 424, Figs. 2 and 4, adjust-' able by set screw 425 and lock nut 426, and adapted when the lever 420 is swung outward from the position shown in Fig. 2 to encounter and be actuated by a segmental cam b mounted in a groove on one face of the gear 65, for instance by the screws 1). The cam 79 may be of a length to represent any segment of the gear 65; as shown the cam 6 extends through so much of the angle of revolution of the gear 65 as will represent two successive passages of all of the customary set of short butt needles in the machine, i. e., two successive passages of the same are about 180 of the needle-circle.

The follower 424 may be arched as shown, to enable the recess is of the follower to stand over the path of motion of the cam 1) whenever the tip it of the follower is permitted to enter the gap between the ends of the arcuate cam b. This position of the follower is shown in Fig. 4 and in Fig. 2, and corresponds to the completely withdrawn position 1 of the cam 101, see Fig. 6.

In this position the cam 101 is out of contact with needle butts of any length.

The lever 420 is arranged to be moved to place the cam 101 in either of the positions 2 and 3 radially inward of the position 1 by the following means:

results in decreased speed of-the machine. The drum 102 effects decrease of speed and stoppage by means of cam 106 having axial pro ections reacting with a depending lug 104 on the belt shipper 103. In order to relate the motions of the lever 110 to the times of decrease of speed, stoppage and other events controlled by the drum 102, and by other pattern surfaces moved by the shaft 80, cams 107 may be adjustably fastened on the peripheryof the drum 102. In the instance shown, a -single cam 107 is provided with a low leading end 108; timed to move the lever 110 coincident with entrance of the yarn guide t, Fig. 1, into 'oper-' ative position; the height of the portion 108 is sufficient to move the lever 420 into contact with the longest butt needles, and is so placed in relation to the teeth of the ratchet, not shown, bywhich the shaft 80 is moved as to shift the lever 420 and cam 101 forward to move the long butt needles a during passage of the short butts n, and then to move the long butts, and then to move the cam 101 to the position 2, Fig. 6. This occurs during the passage of the gap between the ends of the cam b on gear at the follower 424, and carries the follower 424 forward into position to engage with the cam ends of the segment I) on successive revolutions of the cam b. The cam 6 moves the follower 424 and the lever 420 to cause the cam 101 to assume the position 3, Fig. 6. Since the cam b occupies something less than half of the periphery of the gear 65, in the instance shown the cam 101 will now remain in position 3 for two revolutions or slightly less and be dropped back to position 2 for two revolutions or slightly more, until the cam 107 has passed from under lever 110.

These motions of the depressing cam 101 are utilized to discriminate between groups of the needles intended to be isolated for the purpose of taking the additional yarn t. In the preferred arrangement, see Fig. 8, the needles n are provided with the usual long butts n and with the usual short butts 12. respectively adapted for stocking knitting purposes to be thrown out of action as a whole series and to be operated as an increasing and diminishing series for heel and toe knitting. The needles further include needles of a third length of butt 7L3, and needles of still shorter butts n". The needles h ving the butts n and n are those adapted to be isolated; a wider group of such needles to receive the yarn t for wider spot may comprise, for instance, needles n and intervening needles n"; a group of needles for a narrower spot may comprise those with the butts a only.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 6, a single needle with the butt a" may be arranged centrally of the usual short butt series W, and this needle a may be flanked by as many needles with the butts n as desired; one

on each side as shown.

When the cam 101 is in the position '3 this cam will engage and depress the needles with the butts n but it will not engage and depress needles with the butts n When the cam 101 is in the position 2, it will engage and depress the needles n and a but will allow the needle n and the needle n to stand at the full height of the ledge 40 and so isolate them above all theother needles at passage of the guide t.

The remainder of the operation will now be obvious. When the heel of the stocking is about to be knit the cam 106 will come into operation to move the shipper 103 to decrease the speed of the machine, and during this operation the end 109 of the cam 107 will run oif the lever 110, withdrawing the cam 101. This operation is coordinate with withdrawal of the yarn guide it to cease feeding the yarn t. Re-entrance of the cam 101 is coordinate with the reentrance of the guide It"; any suitable automatic means for moving the guide 25 into andout of operation may be employed.

Any desired arrangement of the needles having the butts n 'and a may be made. For instance as shown in Fig. 7 the needles a may be an adjacent group and the needles a may be the next needle to one end of this group.

The result of the arrangement shown in Fig. 6 during the withdrawal of the cam 101 to position 3 is to engage the thiekenin wale yarn 't with the sinker wales at eaci side of a single wale from the needle a", thus making a thin or narrow spot; and when the cam is in position 2 the result is to engage the yarn t with the sinker wales beyond the group of three needle wales knit bythe needles n n n as shown in Fig. 10. In the arrangement of Fig. 7 the wide spot is three needle-wales wide, see Fig. 9,

but the narrow spot, at needle n is at one margin of the wide spot. Other arrangements for other patterns of thickening wale yarn inclusion will readily occur to those skilled in the art, and are within my invention.

I claim:

1. A knitting machine having therein mainyarn feeding means, and means for placing an additional yarn on certain needles for engagement with the web in such relation as not to be interknitted at wales laterally spaced according to the number of said needles, in combination with means for causing during recurrent courses a lesser number of needles only to receive the additional yarn.

2. A knitting machine adapted for knitting thickening-wale structures having therein a main and an additional yarn guide, and means including a cam movable tional yarn for a thickened-Wale structure having in combination normal needles, needles differentiated from each other in different degrees adapted res ectively to be moved and not to be move by a cam in different positions;a cam for moving needles to isolate differentiated needles from the other needles, and means for positioning the cam to isolate different groups of the needles durin different courses.

4. X knitting machine having therein needles, means for feeding a main yarn to all of the needles, and means for causing groups of needles to receive an additional yarn to make a thickened Wale, comprising butts for the thickening-Wale needles differentiated from each other and from the remaining needles, in combination with a cam for moving like members of the series of thickening-Wale needles only in one position, and meansfor moving the cam into and out of said position.

5. A knitting machine having a series of needles, means differentiating the needles in respect to their coaction with a cam for the purpose of isolating variable series of needles in accordance with the position of the cam, and a movable cam for this purpose, in combination with means for moving the cam to different positions during knitting of different recurrent groups of courses.

' 6. 'A knitting machine having a series'of needles, means differentiating the needles in respect to their coaction with a cam for the purpose of isolating variable series of 'needles in accordance with the position of the'cam, and a movable cam for this 'pur pose, in combination with means for moving the cam to differentfpositionsduring knitting of different recurrent groups of courses comprising a rotary actuating cam, a follower for said actuating cam, a connection therefrom to said needle cam, and pattern controlled means for determining actuation or an idle position for said follower.

7. A knitting machine having therein a series of needles and a movable supplemental ncedle-cam, the series of needles includ ing groups having butts respectively of different lengths, at least one group including needles adapted to cooperate with said supplemental cam when in one of its positions only, and needles not capable of contact with said cam in any of its positions, in comneedles according to the different positions of a supplemental cam, in combination with said cam and a movable mounting-therefor including a follower ada ted to coact with an operating cam carrie on a part of the machine rotating at a speed less than that of the knitting head, whereby to retain said cam in' said different positions severally duringa plurality of courses.

9. A circular knitting machine having therein a rotary knitting. head and needles, and means for isolating different groups of needles according to the different positions of a supplemental cam, in combination with said cam and a movable mounting therefor including a follower adapted to coact with the operating cam carried on a part of the machine rotating at a speed less than that of the knitting head, means permitting the follower to reach positions out of contact with the operating cam on either side thereof, corresponding to different positions of the supplemental cam, and pattern operated means or. holding, the follower on one side of the operating cam and inducing its motion to the other side at predetermined times.

10. In a knitting machine, a rotary knitting head, a sup lemental cam and actuating devices there or comprising a lever having one end near the knitting head and another end near a rotary part of the machine carrying an operating cam and rotating at a different speed from the knitting head, in combination with a fixed needle-depressing cam mounted on one end of the lever and a follower for the operating cam mounted on the other end of the lever.

11. In a knitting machine, a rotary knitting head, a supplemental cam and actuating devices therefor comprising a lever having one end near the knitting head and another end near a rotary part of the machine carrying an operating cam and rotating at a different speed from the knitting head, in combination with a needle cam mounted on one end of the lever, a follower for the operating cam mounted on the other end of the lever, and guide means for the end of the lever carrying the cam adapted to resist fiexure of the lever by reaction with the needles.

12. A knitting machine adapted for knitting thickening Wale structures having therein a main and an additional yarn guide, a stitch cam and means including a cam movable into operative engagement with a variable number of needles having difi'erent kinds of butts to predetermine' the number of needles receiving the additional yarn, said additional yarn guide being positioned to place the yarn on the needles in 5 position to be cast ofi unknit by the action of the stitch cam, in combination with means for moving the cam operating on the variable number of needles to engage greater and lesser numbers of the needles at recurrent courses.

Signed by me at New York this 6th day of July, 1921.

ROBERT W. scorr. 

